Monday, December 26, 2016

End taboos around menstruation

Recently, two young women died in menstrual
huts in Achham, a hilly district in far west Nepal, in under a month.

On November 18, Dambara Upadhyay, 21 from Timilsena village
in Accham in Farwest Nepal was discovered dead in the shedwhile following a practice called Chhaupadi,
a tradition that banishes menstruating women to live in sheds outside the
houses. (The image shows a menstrual hut where Dambara Upadhyay died. Image credits: Shiva Raj Dhungana / Achcham)Another incident of a similar nature took place on December
17. A fifteen-year-old girl Roshani Tiruwa of Gajra Village Development
Committee-7 died in menstrual hut.

Deaths in the menstrual huts are sporadic in the far western
region of Nepal. In less than a month, two young women have died in the menstrual
hut in far-western region of Nepal. These are not the first of their kind - and
no one can say they won't happen again in the future.

Last year, Bhawana Malla of Khoya village was also found dead
in a similar shed while Sharmila Bhul, (16), was also found dead in her
menstrual shed three years ago, according to local media reports. Since 2007, at least eight women have died in Achham while
practicing Chaupadi.

Though exact statistics are not available, deaths of women are reported each
year as a result of exposure, bites by poisonous snakes or
scorpions or animal attacks while residing in the exposed Chaupadi sheds,
according to a field bulletin published by United Nations Resident and Humanitarian
Coordinator’s Office.

Chhaupadi practice and
menstrual huts

Menstrual hut was constructed away from home.
In the picture we can see both menstrual hut and her home. Shiva Raj Dhungana/Achham

Taboos and stigmas surrounding
menstruation prevail throughout the country where Hindu tradition is followed. The situation
is worse in the far west region where thousands of girls and women are banished to menstrual huts or cattle-sheds
or makeshift huts during their periods.

Chhaupadi dates back many centuries, and has its roots in
Hindu taboos around menstruation. In the local language, the meaning of “chhau” is a woman’s condition of
being untouchable and “padi” means being. The term denotes being untouchable.

Menstrual huts are an extreme form of seclusion. In western Nepal,
menstruating women sleep in a small hut constructed away from their homes. It
is because of a belief that they are impure and God becomes angry if they
remain in the house and touch things the others in the family use, or come in
contact with the male members of the home. Women are made to stay there so that
they can’t touch other persons, cattle,
green vegetables and plants, or fruits.

Generally, these huts are small single-room buildings with
small doors. Most huts are constructed either without windows or with very
small ones. These huts have poor sanitation and ventilation. As a result, most women
die of suffocation or snake or scorpion bites. During my visit to various
districts in western Nepal, many women and girls shared their fear of being attacked
by wild animals and snake bites while being isolated in these menstrual huts.

Banishment is outlawed

In a precedential verdict, Nepal’s Supreme Court
banned Chhaupadi in 2005. Despite being outlawed, Nepali women in various parts
of the country continue to suffer in the name of traditions.

Why? It
is because law enforcement agencies often perceive taboos surrounding
menstruation as a private family issue. But it is not. It is a purely legal
issue. In my personal experience, officials at government agencies do not want to
punish people who have been practicing this tradition.

I see
weakness on part of law enforcement agencies. These agencies should not allow
such a tradition to continue in the name of social pressure or any other
pretext. In fact, Nepal is a signatory to the international instruments such as
the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). As Chhaupadi
practice is apparently against human rights, it is the responsibility of the
government to abolish the tradition to translate its commitment of respecting
CEDAW and UDHR to action.

It is a human right issue

We often hear people saying that stigma
surrounding menstruation is tied to traditions, culture, social norms and
values or religious practices. This logic is not an excuse to continue this
inhuman tradition.

Isolating women from society and the family during their
menstrual periods is not about tradition, but inhuman behavior towards women. It
is not cultural. It is a human rights issue. It is not a part of religion but a superstition. It is
against women's rights.

An attempt to smash taboos around menstruation
should not be perceived as an attempt to challenge cultural traditions or
religious beliefs or social harmony. It should be perceived as an attempt of
upholding human rights.

Blaming the vague things
like attitude, culture, customs and traditions is not a way out. The way
forward is that the government should come up with strong commitment to end
this inhuman practice. As it is already outlawed by the Supreme Court, the
government should not treat the act of banishing women in a cow shed as a
private family issue. It is apparently a legal issue. And the government must
act accordingly.

I believe that Nepal can afford the cost to abolish Chhaupadi
tradition/practice. But the country cannot afford the cost of inaction. Women
will get disproportionately affected if the government’s inaction to bring this
tradition continues.

Together we can smash
taboos

We should not let more women to die in the name of tradition
or culture. The government, civil society members, political leaders and other
stakeholders in the society should work together to bring this practice to an
end.

Men also should engage in the campaign to end the inhuman
practices. Menstrual taboos are not matter of women only. It is matter of
societies. It is matter of countries. And when the United Nations General
Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015,
it is a matter of concern for world community as well.

Together we can smash taboos and ensure that women are free
to lead a life of dignity at the time of period in Nepal and other parts of the
world.

In the end

In Hinduism, menstruating women are considered to be
“impure”. It is not belief but superstition. I always ask a question: how can
an act of banishing women to menstrual hut or cow shed to die be “pure”?
Menstruation is a natural process. It is pure. It is clean. It is natural. The
only thing that is impure is an act that goes against the norms of humanity. We
cannot be a “civilized” and “pure” society until our fellow women die in
menstrual hut in the name of social tradition or religion.

Written by Pragya Lamsal

(Pragya Lamsal is
Nepal-based development professional working on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
(WASH) and disability issue. Email: lamsalpragya@gmail.com She tweets as: @pragyalamsal )